Eli's Childhood Friend
by Metroidfan120559
Summary: A cutesy romance about Eli, the rest of Muse, and Eli's childhood friend from Russia.
1. Chapter 1

My mom poured me a cup of tea from the kettle she held, still steaming from the spout.

"They'll be someone waiting for you at the entrance of your school, by the way." She sat the cup on the table, letting it 'clink' softly.

"Who?" I asked, blowing in the center of the steaming liquid.

"Someone very special." My grandma said, rocking back and forth in the living room behind us, the creaking of the old chair was a constant sound through my life, even now.

"Who? Come on." I whined a little, gulping down the fresh tea.

"You'll see!" Mom chimed, turning the stove top off.

I half-frowned, nervous about going to such a new place in a country I knew nothing about.

Throughout my life, I've moved from place to place and I still don't know why. I was born in England, then moved to Russia when I was 3, which was where my grandmother lived. Since I was so young at the time, moving wasn't considered an issue for me as a small child. My mother has always said I was born in Russia, which might as well be true. My grandmother lives with us now because of her own choice, since she rarely got family visitors from the long distance. I live in Japan now, because of a job offer my father had that led us move here. It's supposed to be the best decision financially for us as a family, but it's probably affected me emotionally in some ways, having to leave a place I waa comfortable with being in.

"Well I think I should be leaving soon." I fidgeted with the small cup.

"Do you remember where to go?"

"Mmhmm." I replied, going to stand up.

"The person you'll be looking for will be holding a red bag, by the way." Mom said, turning to hug me.

"That's so plain, that could be anybody. How will I know who's the right person?"

"You could ask every person you see at the gate with a red bag." My mother hugged me again tightly, and I chose to not reciprocate it from my anxiety boiling up. "Have a good day, sweetheart." She said, standing on her tiptoes to give me a kiss on the forehead.

"Yeah, I'll try." I sighed.

"Have a good day!" My grandma calles from the other room, knitting slowly to herself.

"Bye, grandma. I guess I'll be back this afternoon sometime."

I closed the door behind me, clutching the small bag I had, which didn't seem like enough at all. All it has was 4 notebooks, a pencil case, and extra lead. I was told this was all I needed, but it seemed so sparse.

I walked down the sidewalks of the quiet town, trying to vaguely remember how to get to high school. I walked around curve after curve, doing my best to read the signs that were in Japanese, and feeling like I was about to throw up from this nervousness.

I noticed a small girl in a uniform that looked a lot like mine walking down the sidewalk across an intersection from me. I would feel bad about following her, but it's not like doing it wouldn't help me a little.

She had black hair, tied into a set of twintails with small pink ribbons. She walked awfully fast for being so small, probably coming to my chest if she really tried.

Turning around corners, I made sure to stay an entire block behind her, doing my best to stay out of view if she looked around. Hiding behind signs, dumpsters, and anything else that would work when she would look around. Sure it looked silly, but I don't wanna be in trouble if she noticed. Hopefully nobody in the nearby houses did either.

Eventually the large school I remember seeing a few days ago was in view. The front yard was a line of cherry blossom trees, which already bloomed. A large brick wall served as the gate to the school, and several cars came by before I got to it, dropping people off.

I took a deep breath, knowing my next objective was to find someone with a red bag.

I crossed the street in front of the school and surveyed the mass of students walking into the school. I knew time was important, and my anxiety only got worse.

The small girl with twintails met up with another girl, who had short cut orange-red hair. They both conversed before meeting up with a larger group of girls. They didn't look like a regular group to me, but seemed like really good friends. They all stood by the side of the gate, looking like they're waiting for someone. Some of the girls laughed louder than the others, and some didn't talk as much. A blonde girl, who was notably tall, yelled "Sorry!", and ran towards the group.

And in her hand was a bright red bag.

Which was wonderful. I had to brave a group of tightly knit girls to meet someone who was supposed to help me today.

I watched from afar a little bit longer, and the tall blonde girl spoke fast and seemed rushed, her cheeks were flushed and she looked sweaty as if she ran all the way here. The other girls listened to her intently and nodded their heads. The blonde girl held up the red bag a little higher than one normally would, waving it in the air and the 8 other girls looked outwards from the group in all directions.

A girl with purple hair, also in twintails, and green eyes looked at me for an uncomfortable amount of time. The eye contact was easily distinguishable and strong. She tapped her lip and shook the shoulder of the blonde girl, the others looked where she was looking.

The 9 girls all looked at me in tandem, and my heart sank a little and my eyes hazed up at the unexpected attention I was about to get.

I waved slightly, hoping I found the person, or people, I was supposed to meet, and shuddered as my eyes met hers. She ran as fast as she possibly could towards me.

"Eli!" I yelled happily and ran towards her, dropping my bag in the process.

She did her best to clear a path for herself for a small crowd of people entering the school.

"Edward!" She screamed back, tears flinging from her face as rapidly as her hair whipped back and forth.

She collided into me, her outstretched arms tightly wrapped my waist, and I picked her up and spun her in a circle twice before setting her down and squeezed her waist into me.

Eli sniffed and breathed deeply, stifling tears. In the overjoyed event, I too felt a little misty after seeing her.

Looking at the outside world, the 8 other girls looked in shock and confusion.

"Eli, your friends are watching." I whispered to her, releasing my embrace of her, feeling warm in the face.

"Ah. R-Right." She said, taking a step back and trying to compose herself.

"Eli?" A girl with orange hair stepped forward from the group, she too had blue eyes like Eli. She seemed as confused as the others.

"This is a childhood friend of mine from Russia. His name is Edward." She said, opening her hand towards me.

The 8 girls walked closer now, forming a small group in front of me. Eli was multiple times happier than everyone else as she turned to face me with a giddy smile.

"He's so tall-nya!" The red-orange hair girl said, standing on her tiptoes now.

"And he's another foreigner, too." A dirty blonde haired girl said in response, much quieter than the catgirl.

"So... You live here now?" I asked Eli, who would be wagging her tail if she wasn't human.

"Uh huh. I think our families did this on purpose." She took a step closer to me, her happiness unwavering. "You haven't changed much from when we were younger, huh?" She said with a bright smile.

"What's that supposed to mean?." I said, taking a moment to glance at something other than her face, and indeed seeing that she's changed in several ways since I saw her several years ago. This was a stupid move, as her friends were right there, probably intently watching my every move.

Eli giggled cutely, picking my small bag up. "I wish they would've told up this was gonna happen so we could've talked before this." She said, brushing her hair out of her face.

She's certainly a lot "... more cute." I dumbly muttered under my breathe.

Her eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks.

"Ah! Sorry!" I quickly apologized and took a step back, waving the statement off.

She blushed violently. "W-Well um." She stuttered and handed me my bag. "We can talk about that later, OK?"

"What's going on here, now?" A girl with deep red hair said, twirling a curl of it on her finger, looking annoyed at what I said.

"This is a long explanation, I can guess." The purple haired girl said, folding her arms in front of her, with a gentle smile.

"Come on, Edward, we have to go to class now." She said, turning to the other. "Please be nice to him, OK?" She clasped her hands together.

I followed suit after her, the 8 girls following behind me after separating to allow us through.

I watched Eli from behind as she led the way, watching her ponytail sway back and forth, then going down to her shoulders, her waist, and ending in her hips, which also seemed to sway with more movement and attitude than when I saw her idling with her group.

"Is that Eli's boyfriend?" I heard one of the girls whisper impressively soft.

"If he's from Russia, too, then maybe." Another said.

"He's unbelievably tall." Another muttered.

"That's the second time you've said that, Rin."

"Well he's even taller than Eli." Rin replied, embarrassed.

"So this is Otonazaki High." Eli started, taking a step to stand beside me.

"I've been told I only have one classroom to stay in all day. 3-C, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, that's the same as mine!" Eli said with a wonder in her eyes.

"Then maybe we can catch up on lost time during school today." I said in response, looking down at her over my shoulder, which made her break eye contact.

She began walking before I said anything else and motioned for me to follow.

Walking through the halls got some stares after the rest of the girls broke up upon entering the building. The purple haired girl, and the black haired girl with twintails followed us still.

"Who's that?"

"Another foreigner here? Is he new?"

"Why's he with the Council President?"

I internally stressed a little, but if Eli and her friends weren't too nervous about it, I don't see why I should either.

"And this is Edward, our new classmate. He's from Russia, like Eli." The teacher said, making Eli look a little nervous with embarrassment. "I'm also told that you two know each other?" The teacher asked, looking between us two.

I shot her a nervous glance, with her shaking her head. Nozomi gave me a thumbs up, and a small smile. Their smaller friend looked in expectation.

"Yeah, her and I are childhood friends."

Some of the class made an 'Ooo' after what I said.

The teacher smiled gently. "Well Eli is also the Student Council President. She's the main component of school budgets and organization of festivals and other events." The teacher began. "And as you already know, she has a very tight group of friends wh-"

"T-That's enough!" Eli whined in the far back, standing up.

The teacher glanced at her and continued with a stifled laugh "-who will more than likely show you around the area." She shot a wink at Eli, who hid her face in embarrassment.

The class giggled and I fidgeted nervously.

"You may take your seat in the back next to her and Nozomi." The teacher bowed slightly.

I did in return and made my way to the back.

I walked past their small friend, who sat in front of Eli and Nozomi.

"Watch yourself." She lightly threatened, giving me a stern look.

"That's Nico, she doesn't actually mean that." Nozomi said, leaning over from her table to whisper that to me.

I sat in my seat. Eli to my left, Nozomi to my right, and the small girl in front of me. On all directions I was effectively being watched by Eli.

I took a deep breath and snuggled into the chair, which seemed too small for me.

"Oh, ah, you're Nozomi, right?" I whispered to her.

She nodded with a cute smile. "The girl in front of you is Nico, too."

Nico gave a small wave with the back of her hand.

"She's nervous around new people." Nozomi cupped her hand to whisper to me.

"I am not!" Nico turned around, glanced at me, then Nozomi, and then faced forward.

A small ruffling noise on my desk made me face front. Eli delicately placed a sheet of paper on my desk before quickly retreating back to her own, hiding her face behind her ponytail.

'I'm sorry-' The paper read '- but I'm really embarrassed after hugging you and all in front of my friends. It was hard to con-' she scribbled out that line, but the beginning was legible behind the pencil lead. 'I was just so excited to see you. It's been a really long time. If my friends said anything weird while we were walking around, please don't think anything of it. They're all really nice once you get to know them.'

As I was reading, I could see Nozomi eyeing the paper out of the corner of my eye. It wasn't anything too personal, so I scooted the paper over to the right side of the desk to let her read it better.

"Nozomi!" Eli whined quietly from her desk.

Nozomi returned to her chair, looking up as if she didn't see anything.

Eli fidgeted with her feet after saying that.

I flipped the paper over and started writing something as well.

'How have you been since you left a few years ago?'

I passed the paper back to her. She started scribbling a response down soon after.

'Fine. It was hard finding friends here, but I have a really nice group now. Do you know anyone else here? Who came with you here?'

'I can see that. Are you going to introduce me to them soon? And me, my parents, and my grandma.'

'I will at lunch.'

I held the paper for a while, not knowing what to say.

Unbeknownst to me, Nico and Nozomi were also writing a paper back and forth, too. I only caught it until just now as Nico slid it to the other.

'Nico and Nozomi are writing stuff, too.'

'I know. Please don't get mad if they tease you.'

'It'll be fine. They both seem nice so far. I wanna meet everyone else if you don't mind.'

This time Eli held the paper for a while. Instead, Nico handed me a small slip.

'Are you Eli's boyfriend?'

"Nico, what did you write down?" Eli quietly hissed at Nico.

"We all have a right to know!" Nico hissed back, just as inaudible.

Eli made a worried whine and took a deep breath.

'No, I'm not. I'm a childhood friend of hers from Russia.'

'Then why did she hug you like that?'

'I tired to stiffle some tears, too, if it means anything.'

'So sappy.' With a small doodle of a placid expression.

Nozomi lightly placed her own strip of paper on my desk now.

'Are you her boyfriend?'

'No, I'm not.'

'Then why was she crying?'

'I was about to cry too, if it means anything.'

'Do you like her?'

'Why is everyone asking that?'

'After that reunion, it seems natural.'

'We're just friends. I've known her a long time, so it's natural to grow attached to something like that. I imagine Eli will explain more to you as time goes by.'

Seemingly satisfied with this, she never passed the paper back.

The loud lunch bell interrupted the teachet mid-sentence. Amongst the commotion, Eli snatched the paper and read it, her back to me.

"You can't go an ask personal questions like that!" Eli stamped her foot. Her face cutely pink.

"Yeah yeah. Let's go to the rooftop." Nico said, in a haughty tone.

"That's where we eat lunch, by the way." Nozomi said after Nico, giving me a tap on the shoulder.

"Did you bring anything to eat?" Eli tugged on my shirt as the other two left.

"Oh..." I lulled. "No, I guess I didn't." I frowned and fished my wallet out of my pocket.

"I-I'll!" She blurted, holding my hand. "I'll buy it for you today." She said with a red face.

Eli, I, and Nozomi got to the rooftop. Nico and the other 7 were already up there. The girl with orange hair, and Rin, I guessed, were doing cartwheels as the others sat in a small circle eating on a blanket.

"You have to buy lunch today, Eli-nya!" Rin said mid-cartwheel.

"No, you're joking." She said, looking horrified.

"Is that a problem?" I turned to her, still holding the door open for her to walk through.

"What a gentleman." The blue haired girl said.

I bit my lip a little to stiffle a small grin after the compliment.

"And you should let Edward stay up here with us." Nozomi said, lightly tugging my shirt over to the group of girls. The two who were doing cartwheels stopped after the offer and joined the others.

"Hey wait, that's not fair!" Eli stamped her foot, making a cute expression.

"I'll be fine, Eli. I wouldn't imagine you would be too long." I said with a small smile.

"See? It's fine." The red haired girl said. Nozomi nodded in agreement.

Eli rushed down the stairs with a panicked sigh.

Nico rushed up, locked the roof door, and stood in front of it.

"We have 6 minutes before she gets back." The blue haired girl said, standing up as well.

"Are you Eli's boyfriend!" Nozomi said in a stern voice, but still girly.

"I assumed that would be the first question."

They all looked skeptical of me, but I internally panicked.

"Ah. No, I'm not. I'm a childhood friend of hers from Russia. Both of our families were really good friends, so I've known her for a very long time."

"So is she like a sister to you?" A girl with pale brown hair said.

"No, I wouldn't put it like that." I sat down. Everyone else sat down too, and Nico unlocked the door. I assumed everyone was satisfied with my answer.

"So why was that her response to seeing you?" The dirty blonde said.

"Eli has always been emotional about that kinda stuff. If it means anything, I kinda got a little teary-eyed, too. I never thought I would see her again." I looked down at the concrete floor, unsure of what else to say.

"How long have you known her?" The dirty blonde made a followup, taking a bite out of a wad of rice she held.

"Eli and I have known each other since we were babies, practically. Both of our families are friends, so naturally we saw each other a lot." I adjusted my legs a little so they wouldn't fall asleep. All of them watched intently, taking mental notes seemingly. "And her and I kinda grew up together. When we both were 12, she moved here. It's been around 5 or 6 years since I've heard from her."

"You didn't try to keep in touch over the long distance?" Nozomi said.

"No, it would've been too much work. I didn't think I would see her again because her whole family moved here, so I thought this was permanent." I sighed.

"So you thought that it was clinging on to nothing?" Nico said.

I nodded. "Sounds about right to me, Nico."

She blinked after I referred to her by name.

"Well, you're here with her now, right?" The orange haired girl said.

"Yeah, I hope that's the case. Eli was my only friend for the longest time. We spent nights at each other's houses when we were younger, went to amusement parks, zoos, festivals. Ya know." I trailed off, getting a little warm in the face after I felt all of their gazes on me now, with positive expressions.

Before the purple haired girl could open her mouth, the door exploded open. "Don't tell them anything!" Eli cried out, holding a large bag in her arms and panting heavily.

"Hello to you too, Eli." The purple haired girl said instead of what she was going to say before Eli came in.

"OK. Let me explain." Eli said, dropping the bag between me and the 8 other girls. She took a seat next to me and took a ragged breath.

"Edward and I have known each other since we were bab-"

"We know that already." The red haired girl interrupted.

Eli made a surprised noise. "And our families were go-"

"That too." The pale-brown haired girl said.

"He ended on you two not talking after you left when you were 12." The blue haired girl said.

"I told you not to say anything." Eli pouted, making me wanna cradle her, but went against that urge. "Well. That's about it." Eli looked down.

"You guys really are good friends, aren't you? Why didn't you try to contact each other?" The orange haired girl said.

Eli was quiet for a few moments and looked from side to side to find an answer.

"Well, you already know what I thought." I looked at the other girls.

Eli made a noise. "W-What did you think?" She muttered weakly.

"Ladies first, Eli." The redhead said with a smug look.

I turned my attention to Eli, who was mentally panicking again. Her face grew red and she had a hard time starting her sentence. "I thought that you would've found other friends by the time I wanted to talk to you." She didn't make eye contact with me after she finished, choosing to hide her steaming face.

I blushed a little, too, happy to know that her and I were on the same page.

"Well that sounds about the same to me." The blue haired girl said.

Eli snapped her head to look at me. "Really?"

I nodded.

Eli fidgeted a little, unsure of what to say, glancing at me quickly a few times.

"Well, should we introduce ourselves?" The orange haired girl said.

The other 8 acknowledged her request.

"OK, I'm Honoka!" She said with a wide grin.

"I'm Umi." She rose her hand.

"I'm Kotori." She said, mid-swallow.

"I'm Rin-nya!" She said with explosive energy.

"I'm Hanayo." She said meekly, partially hiding her face behind a bowl of rice.

"I'm Maki, nice to meet you." She folded her arms and looked sideways a little.

"You already know me and Nico." Nozomi said, prodding Nico's cheek.

"I'm Edward, nice to meet you all." I said with a smile.

A beat of silence went between us all and I put my attention back to Eli, who was still red in the face.

"What?" She whimpered, showing a pitiful face to me. "I'm sorry this is awkward." She apologized.

"It's fine, we all weren't friends when we first met each other." Maki said.

"Well I don't exactly know what else to say, either. Is there anything else you wanna know?" I said, ringing my neck with my hand and taking a breath.

The girls looked between each other and made contemplative faces.

"What hobbies do you have?" Kotori said.

"Martial arts." I said, Eli quietly said it under her breath as well.

"Whoa!" Honoka said, getting up. "Show me!" She said, taking a ready position.

"Ah, Honoka, now is not the time for that." Umi said, tugging on Honoka's pant leg.

"I just wanna see him do something cool." She muttered.

"Can you kick well?" Umi said, standing up, brushing her legs off.

"I think so, but I wouldn't bet much money on it."

Nico stood, terrified, with a can on her head. "T-This isn't funny!" She said angrily, but was mostly scared.

"I promise I won't hit you, Nico." I took a deep breath and crouched down.

"You better not!" She cried, closing her eyes.

"Not like you'll be around long enough after that." Maki scoffed.

I steadied my breathing, and lowered my stance.

"Everyone might wanna back up." Umi said, clapping her hands a single time.

The others gathered close, but gave generous space.

I rushed forward, briefly seeing tears roll down Nico's face as I used my right leg to swipe the can off Nico's head rather cleanly, only lightly brushing one of her pigtails.

A tandem of clapping that followed was a little louder than Nico's soft whimpering.

"Good job, Nico!" Kotori said.

"I didn't know you still could do this kinda stuff." Eli said, approaching me.

"Did I get it?" I asked, looking around for the can.

"Yes, and it was very impressive." Nozomi said, with a gentle smile, holding the empty, dented, aluminum.

"What stuff do you take?" Rin said, looking excited.

"Taekwondo and Judo are about it" I said, brushing my hands off.

"Is there any reason why you stuck with them for so long?" Kotori said.

"Physical exercise and self defense, mostly. It's good exercise for a lot of muscles in one's body. Judo is for upper body, while Taekwondo is for the lower body."

"Sounds about right to me." Umi said, bowing.

After Nico calmed her nerves, everyone sat down and continued to eat lunch.

"I just bought you a sandwich because I didn't know what to choose." Eli whispered to me, placing it on my lap. "I hope it's enough." She said with intent.

"It'll be fine. Thanks." I said, with a smile.

"I'm sorry for how everyone acted today." Eli said softly. It was easy to hear her from the silence of the streets at night on our way home.

"It's fine. You have a nice group of friends there, Eli." I tried to match her volume and briefly stole a glimpse of her. She was steadily look down at the pavement.

"Mmhmm." She nodded. "They all mean well." She put her hands in her pockets.

"So..." I trailed off, edging a bit closer to her.

She looked at me, an expecting face, not noticing I scooted towards her.

"Am I spending the night at your house now? You said you wanted to let me see your house but it's already so late." My face grew a little red and I gritted my teeth to not make a giddy smile.

"Well yeah I guess it is rather late." She broke eye contact and fidgeted her hands in her coat pockets.

A beat of comfortable silence passed between the two of us. Again I glimpsed at her blonde hair, softly bouncing on her shoulders.

"We're almost to my house." She softly said, her whispers making a crisp sound from the silence. "If you want to, you can call your parents and see if they can pick you up."

After the family introductions to Eli's mom and grandmother, Eli softly nudged me to go to her room.

"I wanna show you what it looks like." She said, giddy, and pushing my back up the stairs.

I felt a little excited too, to be in a room alone with her, but maybe that wasn't the most appropriate thought.

Her room was, as expected of a girl's room.

"Isn't it nice?" She said, opening her arms to present her room to me. Soft pink walls, a bookshelf, a small table with cushions underneath it, and a computer desk.

"Yeah, it is." I said, inspecting the finer details, several music group posters, small stuffed animals on the headboard of her bed.

She said, sitting down on her bed. "For now I'd like to talk about stuff."

"Like?" I peeled my shoes off, and piling them next to my other belongings.

"Like what you did while we were separated." She muttered, looking up at me.

In truth, it was a good question, but it struck a stern cord in me. "Well I went to school, I assume you did the same as that." I took a seat on the far end of her bed.

"Besides that, though." She leaned on her arm, edging towards me.

"Well I don't know what you're asking." I chuckled a little.

She drew her hand back, her cheeks a tint of pink, and she lightly massaged her hand tenderly. "Well did you get any new hobbies or anything?" She asked with a tender smile.

I shook my head. "Still the same. What about you?" I looked into her eyes for a dangerous amount of time.

"Well I have a bunch of friends now and we all hang out after school, and well-" she giggled shyly "-and during school, too. I think they like you, actually. Umi likes athletic people, so I think she respects you in that way."

"Yeah, it was fun hanging out with your friends on the rooftop. I seemed like they actually warmed up to me." I looked across her room at the bookshelf, not wanting to look at her too much more, to save myself.

She shrunk into herself with a warm smile. "I'm happy about that." She softly muttered.

"So... About what I said earlier, before we got into school." I trailed off, hoping she'd forget.

"Oh, that compliment?" She blushed. "I-I... Um..." she bit her lip.

"That was kinda fast of me, I think." I conceited.

"Well, no, it's fine, we matured and grew up, so it makes sense."

"Well that sounds a little fast of you to say, now." I teased her.

"Well, I didn't really mean it... like, um." She stuttered.

"It's fine, Eli, I know what you mean." I responded quietly to her.

A beat of silence passed between us, having at least me realize we found each other attractive.

A while afterwards, after seeing her baby sister, I made a call to my parents from her home phone and asked to be picked up.

"Is it normal to feel this way?" Eli asked, meekly, to her friends.

"Well didn't you two like each other beforehand or something?" Honoka asked, fishing a handful of chips out of a bag.

"Yeah, you're making it seem like you're backing down from this opportunity." Umi added.

"W-Well, yeah, I dunno. I think we did." Eli muttered.

"Did? What's that supposed to mean?" Maki talked over Eli, a cold tone to her words.

Eli waved her hands wildly. "No! Not did! Um..." she trailed off.

"So yes, you do like him or what? Spit it out!" Nico small figure rattled the chair she sat in.

Eli whined in discomfort.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Nozomi gave Eli a thoughtful gaze and a warm smile. "Eli, you're gonna miss your chance with him, you know?" She said softly.

"I know." She buried her head in her hands. "It just feels like it's moving too fast or something. It hasn't even been a week and I'm already feeling nervous around him.

"Are you worried he won't be the same? You were really nervous even as soon as you saw him." Umi scooted her chair closer to the table, taking interest in the conversation.

Peeking her eyes through her fingers, Eli took a deep breath. "No, he's still how he was. I'm just... He makes me so nervous and I feel stupid for it."

"Butterflies in your stomach?" Rin said.

Eli nodded.

"Maybe you could spend time with him?" Kotori said, taking a break from doing homework in front of her.

"How can I? I could see about him spending the night at my hou-"

"WHAT!" 8 girls exclaimed.

Eli shivered in her chair. "Wha-?" She squeaked, with wide eyes.

"Already?" Umi slammed her hands on the table, standing up.

"Eli-chan~" Rin whined, hugging a seemingly grieving Hanayo.

"Eli, I had no idea..." Maki folded her arms with a face of bewilderment.

"How is that bad!" Eli pattered her feet as she sat.

"You can't just invite a boy into your house, let alone let him sleep there!" Nico tugged her pigtails.

"But him and I always used to do that when we were younger. I thought it was OK." Eli fidgeted with her hands, looking down.

The clammer in the room stopped, and the 8 girls all looked at each other.

"Well I guess this is an abnormal situation, then." Nozomi lightly said, pulling her Tarot deck out.

"Well him and I have known each other for so long an-"

"Shh." Nozomi placed her index finger on Eli's lips, softly nudging the deck towards her.

"Oh no." Honoka squeezed Kotori's side in fear.

"Nozomi don't you think this is too much?" Umi stuttered.

Rin and Hanayo resumed their collective embrace.

"Just pull any card out, right?" Eli gulped.

"Use your gut feeling." Nico said, nervously.

Eli spread the deck out amongst the table, the set of cards taking up a large space. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting her hand hover around the mess. She exhaled and pick up a card, and brought it to her face, and promptly, she melted.

"Just as I thought." Nozomi bit her lip.

"What is it!" Maki demanded.

"Upward facing..." Nozomi shut her eyes.

The other girls waited in anxious fervor.

"Lovers!"

The sound within the room shook the heavens themselves.

"Eli's got a boyfriend now!" Rin exclaimed, tackling Hanayo who fell out her chair.

"H-How becoming of you." Umi stifled a smile.

"What are we gonna do!" Honoka exclaimed, startling Kotori who sat next to her.

"Everyone calm down!" Nico said, beating the table with her fist like a gavel.

The room went respectfully silent and the other girls turned to her, Eli got back up and slouched in the chair she sat in.

"This means us, as her friends, have to help her." Nico said plainly.

"Wow, I didn't expect you'd feel like helping someone, Nico-chan." Maki said playfully, twirling her hair on her finger.

"Besides the point, Maki!" Nico shot a daring glare at the teasing redhead. "We might as well give you ideas on what to do, Eli." Nico said, a much softer tone.

"Like what? It shouldn't be that hard to get him to like me." Eli muttered. "I-I mean!" She waved her hands in front of her wildly.

"It's OK, Eli, we're your friends. You think he's cute, don't you?" Nico asked, a rather caring tone to her voice.

"He seems really sweet based on how he acted towards you, too." Nozomi said, shifting to sit pointing towards Eli a little more.

Eli blushed harshly. "I just don't know what to do. I-I..." she croaked.

"It's normal to be nervous." Umi placed her hand on Eli's across the table.

"No, it's not that, it's just... What if he doesn't reciprocate my feelings?" Eli said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about that." Honoka said, a seemingly forced smile.

The other girls looked confused.

"Honoka." Kotori whispered in a stern tone, placing a hand on Honoka's back.

"I'd be nervous too, Eli." Hanayo said softly.

"I agree. It'd feel like a waste if it didn't work out." Maki added, just as quiet.

The room fell a dreadful silence, and Eli fidgeted to herself.

"Well." Rin broke the silence, causing everyone to perk up. "How do you know that? You said you liked each other back then, right? Or at least you thought you two did."

"But then isn't now, Rin." Eli said in return.

Rin made a small noise, wanting to say something, and slouched back down.

Umi bit her lip, and sighed. "Do you like him? As he is right now, would you like him to get to know you be-"

"Umi, stop!" Eli whined in embarrassment.

"-get to know you better!" Umi raised her voice to talk over Eli. "Is that what you want?" She quieted down.

Eli slightly nodded. "Him am I already know each other so well, but I guess not on that level of relationship."

"Then Eli, you have to show him, I think." Nozomi practically whispered to Eli. From the silence of the others, it sounded at talking volume.

"B-But I. I wanna be able to know he likes me." Eli muttered. The other girls sighed at her response, getting frustrated. "It's hard for me!" Eli raised her voice. "When we were kids, he was cute to me. Like of course him and I would end up together as long as things kept going that wa-"

"Well you're excited about seeing him and having him spend time with you and now it sounds like you're bowing out before you even give him a chance!" Nico practically scolded Eli's behavior.

"He's just. You see someone you used to know and..." She started, and pursed her lips.

"But Eli, you still know him." Maki said with furrowed brow, showing a great deal of sympathy for her, as did the rest of the girls.

"He's so mature now." Eli weakly spat out.

"Oh is this what all this is about?" Nico put her hands on hips.

"What's that supposed to mean, Nic-?" Umi retorted to Nico's harsh words.

"Do you think he's too good for you or something?" Nico said, raising her hand to silence Umi momentarily.

Eli whimpered and nodded. "I've always felt that way. I thought he just saw me as his friend, or maybe even his sister or something. It's stupid of me to think he'd send me these feelings back."

"That's a true worry, when it's a childhood friend." Nozomi said, casting her gaze down.

"Well have you ever asked him how he's looked at you?" Honoka said, an optimistic voice was refreshing at this point in the conversation. "Maybe he feels the same way, ya know?" She said with a smile, knowing a breakthrough was made.

"That's a good point." Umi joined in, also sporting a smile.

"How is that a good point? The two of them might both have these feelings and never realized they like each other." Nico huffed.

"Well I wanna try now. Being around him again made me feel so different than how it used to be. I found myself wanting to impress him so he'd think I was girlfriend material." Eli folded her arms in front of herself, curling inward a little.

"Well we can help on that front, to say the least." Nozomi placed her hand on Eli's arm.

"I can teach you how to cook some things if you wanna make food for him." Hanayo said, adjusting her glasses.

"There's plenty of restaurants you can go to." Kotori said.

"Physical exercise, like walking, helps too I'm told." Umi said.

"You two could go to the movies!" Honoka added with much vigor.

Eli took a deep breath. "Thank you all, so much." She took a deep breath. "I just feel so stupid that I'm acting this way about some boy."

"Well he's not just any boy, you know." Rin said, looking down at her feet. The other girls took notice of what she was starting. "He's someone you've known for a very long time. A relationship like that would've bound to turn into something, you know? Like." She tapped her finger.

"Don't stop now, Rin, you're on to something." Umi urged her.

"Like you two would. Um." Rin frowned. "I-I lost it."

"I think what she's trying to say is that you two would've seen the value in each other." Honoka picked up.

"Plus maybe he thinks you're alot more cute now that you're older. Didn't he say that?" Maki added.

"Yeah, I think he did, actually." Nico put her hands on the table. "Try letting your hair down when you go on a date with him next time. If he thinks you're cute that means he's gonna wanna look at you a lot." She seemed deep in thought.

"What good would that do?" Eli seemed nervous, softly prodding her hair tie that was keeping her ponytail up.

"He'd notice, wouldn't he?" Nico pulled her pigtails a little, having a rough time brainstorming. "If he noticed one thing changed, maybe he'd see if you changed anything else?" She bit her lip.

"I guess it would work." Nozomi half-frowned. "Have you noticed how he's changed at all?" She turned to Eli.

"Of course. He's more tall and muscu-"

"Whoa now." Maki rose her hand up.

Eli shrunk a little, blushing.

"You poor hopeless romantic, you." Nico teased. "But that's good, at least. You two aren't completely blind to each other."

"So what should be the first thing they should to together?" Hanayo's voice was hard to hear since everyone was talking at a normal volume.

"A walk." Umi said. "He's new to town, isn't he?"

Nico snapped her finger. "Yes! That works!"

"Where do I go?" Eli stressed.

"Anywhere." Maki added.

"Wha-"

"You could come by my house." Honoka beamed.

"Yes!" Nico hooted. "Stop by Nozomi's shrine, too."

"That would work. I don't think I'll be there during the afternoon, though."

"And what after that?" Eli lightly fidgeted with her hands.

"That's something we'll cross when we get to it. For now, see what day he's free. Maybe this weekend?" Umi said, looking between the other girls for their approval.

"Well I-I don't even have his phone number yet." Eli frowned.

"Tommorow's objective, then?" Nozomi shuffled her Tarot deck and neatly put it in her bag.

"Sounds like a plan, then." Nico said triumphantly.

Everyone took a deep breath.

"Hey I never even started my homework." Rin grumbled.

"Oh wait." Honoka looked blank.

"Isn't that why we were here to begin with?" Hanayo chuckled.

"I-I"m sorry, everyone!" Eli cried.


	2. Chapter 2

I got to school earlier than Eli today. Only Nozomi was at her seat at the time, and there wasn't anything by either of Nico's or Eli's desk to allude to them being at school.

"My, you're early." Nozomi said, closing the small book she held, giving me her attention.

"Ah, yeah." I rung my neck. "I kinda assumed Eli would be here early, too, so I hurried out my house." I took my seat.

"She's on time, always, but rarely super early." Nozomi said with a soft smile.

"What about Nico?" I faced front, inspecting her desk more.

"She's usually here before Eli is, but she likes to talk with the other girls as opposed to sitting in class."

"What about you?"

"I usually walk here with Eli, but I had some shrine duties this morning, so I was more or less forced to come to school early."

"Shrine duties?" I asked, confused.

"Mmhmm." She nodded. "I volunteer at a local shrine around here. I haven't cleaned it in a few days so I decided to do it to restore myself and see if it would wake me up more."

"Ah, restore yourself?" More questions have been raised.

"Nozomi's like that." Nico said, jarring me, as she set her bag down besides her desk.

"Did she scare you?" Eli asked, trotting to my side from the door.

"No, I'm fine." I waved her off.

"You two came here together?" Nozomi asked, looking between the two.

"Coincidence, but yes. We met at the school gate." Eli said, taking her seat next to me.

"She has something to ask you, by th-" Nico was interrupted by an eraser thrown by a distressed Eli. Nozomi picked the eraser up off the floor by sliding it to her with her feet.

Drawing my attention to Eli, who seemed nervous. "Something to ask me?"

She whined. "Yeah, I wanted to ask your..." she trailed off.

"My?" I edged her on.

"Your E-Mail, if you don't mind. I wanted to see if you and I could walk together to school sometimes." She looked to the side.

A meeting of hands behind me made me turn to Nico and Nozomi, who looked around unaware as I met them.

"Ah, yeah, that's fine. I was gonna ask you the same thing sometime soon. I also wanted to ask if you were gonna be free today, too, depending on how much homework we get." I pulled my phone out and entered Eli's address on a small slip she handed to me.

"Is there anything you wanted to do?" Eli asked, fidgeting with a pencil in her hand.

I looked down and pondered for a moment. "Oh, ah, I haven't seen the shrine Nozomi goes to sometimes, right?" I turned to her.

"It's clean today, too, so it'll look extra nice." She gave a confident nod.

"Well I don't really know the local places around here, so maybe you could show me around, too?" I gave Eli a small smile.

"Honoka's family has a bakery in town, too. You might see her there if she isn't asleep or something." Nico said, sitting backwards in her chair to join the conversation.

Eli giggled softly. "Yeah we could give them a visit to."

"Well how long do you think that would last? We shouldn't be out for too long or else I'd get worried." I frowned. "Especially with you having to go home by yourself or something.

Her cheeks tinted pink. "Well we live close by, don't we?" She waved her hands, dismissing my worry.

"I'll walk you home first, then." I bit my lip in thought. "Say, what do you all do in your free time?"

The question came as a shock to Nico, who looked between Eli and Nozomi.

"Oh, shoot." Eli clenched her hands. "I forgot to tell you I'm head of the Student Council."

"The teacher told me that yesterday, though."

"Well what that means is that her and I will be completely unavailable some days." Nozomi added.

"Are you on it, too?" I turned to Nozomi.

She nodded. "I'm the Vice President, so I end up doing a lot of paperwork with Eli on days we decide to do Council activities."

"So you'll be busy on some days, then?" I turned back to Eli.

"Mmhmm. I'll tell you what days, though. I'm really sor-"

"It's fine, don't apologize." I smiled, not realizing I interrupted her, before apologizing afterwards.

"Well I'll just be busy until the school closes around 7. When we do work days like that, we end up with a lot to do. If we did it every day, we would never have time to relax."

"Makes sense to me. That's why you're quiet on some days after school." Nico added.

"What should I do on those days, then?" I snuggled into the back of my chair to sit up straight.

"You could see if someone else in our group is free." Nico said, kicking her feet.

"Ah, do you think that's a good idea?" Eli leaned forward, sounding nervous.

"Yeah, why not. Umi would probably like hanging out with him or... Something. Whatever she does in her free time."

Nozomi sounded pleased. "Ah, she exercises a lot, doesn't she? I'd imagine a jog would be up both of your alleys, no?"

Eli squirmed. "Hey now, he shouldn't rush into this, right? He barely knows everyone."

"She does have a point, too. Not like I'm just gonna hang out with a bunch of random girls I've just met a few days ago." I said, tapping my finger on my desk.

"Wha-hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Nico said, sounding honestly a little offended.

"What he means is that we're girls, Nico." Nozomi said, tapping her lip with her index finger, seemingly in thought.

"Well, and also I kinda feel bad for butting in, I think?" I shrunk in my chair a little.

Nico and Nozomi looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Well that's kinda how we became friends to begin with." Nico said, shooting a look of confusion at Nozomi.

"I don't think you should be too worried about that, Edward." Eli lightly brushed my shoulder.

"We can talk about it at lunch, can't we?" I tapped my foot anxiously beneath my desk.

"Mmhmm." Nozomi nodded. "I'm confident the second year girls would take a liking to you."

"Hey what about me?" Eli tugged on my shirt sleeve with much force, sliding my arm off the side of it.

"Getting jealous, are w-" A wad of paper intercepted Nico's taunt.

"Well I don't just wanna be at home with nothing to do on days you have Student Council duties." I said, facing the blushing blonde.

"Those days will be few and far between, and at least once a week. For the time being we won't do that until this Monday." She composed herself a little, loosing her unnatural tint.

"And it's Thursday anyway." Nico crumpled the paper ball into a tighter form.

"You do exercise, don't you?" Nozomi asked, a bit softer than her tone before.

"Yeah, wh-"

"Of course he does." Eli said over me, causing me to give her a look of embarrassment.

"What?" I asked in a strained voice.

"W-Well you just said yesterday..." She hid her lower face behind her ponytail.

"I assume you'd want a jogging path, wouldn't you?" Nozomi tapped her nails on her desk.

"Yeah I guess that's a good point."

"Hey we can talk about that when him and I-"

"These are future plans, not overwriting ones. That's rude." She said, placing a hand on her heart.

"What the-" Nico muttered under her breath.

"Just bring it up to Umi, because she might know. I just wanted to tell you that." Nozomi nodded.

"W-Well anyway I'll message you tonight and see if we'll both be free tommorow, OK?" Eli again tugged my shirt sleeve.

"Why not today after school?" I turned to her.

"Yeah, none of us have anything planned today, I don't think."

"I might finish doing things at the shrine today, too." Nozomi thought out loud.

Eli took a breath. "Do you think that would work out for you?" She cocked her head.

"We'll be heading home afterwards anyway, won't we?"

Eli nodded with a smile. "I'll think if there's anywhere else we can go toda-"

The loud bell, signifying class had begun cut Eli off mid-sentence.

"We can talk more about to during lunch, OK?" She said with a cute smile.

The shrill bell rang during a quiet point in class, where everyone was doing worksheets. Admist the few seconds of a sliced silence, I could hear a few people jump with fear.

"Who's buying lunch today?" Nico said, pushing her chair in.

"Rin, I think. Eli was yesterday." Nozomi sifted through her bag before getting up.

"Did you bring something to eat today?" Eli said meekly, tugging my shirt's bottom.

"Actually, yeah I did." I said, holding a small wrapped box I grabbed out from the inside of my desk.

"Oh, alright. I made a little extra food today just in case you forgot." She blushed, holding her lunch behind her.

"Come on, you two." Nico said, standing next to Nozomi at the entrance of the room.

Eli started walking past me, and I followed her up the stairs outside the room, up to the rooftop. Opening the door for Eli and the other 2, we were greeted by Rin and Hanayo.

"Well you're early." Nozomi said, taking a seat on the brick rooftop.

"I was gonna wait for everyone to get here before I left." Rin said, slightly rolling around on her legs as she sat.

"So you still wanna ask Umi?" Eli said, patting a spot next to her.

"Yeah, I do. It'd be weird to ask her in front of everyone, though."

"Why, does it embarrass you?"

"I just don't know everyone yet."

"Mind if I set next to you today?" Nico asked, rather politely.

"No, I don't mind, Nico."

She sat down with a deep breath.

"Something on your mind?" Eli asked, leaning forward.

"No. Just wondering how today will go." She said, looking forward, to the skyline of the town.

"Hmm?" I cocked my head.

"Well with you here, it'll be different."

"Different?" I repeated.

"Yeah. Exciting-" she did with air quotations "-as Honoka would say. You're a new person in our group, so naturally we wanna get to know you, ya know?"

The rooftop door opened, along with the rest of everyone. Honoka and Rin had a loud conversation about what to have for lunch. Kotori quietly pleaded for them to sit down, but to no avail, as the two left in tandem to pick up the others orders.

"To be honest I'm just nervous about meeting everyone. I never knew this many people at once when I was younger."

"Me niether. It's a nice feeling, isn't it?" Nico said, in a mature tone for her.

Without the presence of Honoka and Rin, the rooftop's loudest sound was the wind blowing over the school. Hanayo and Kotori were doing something, that appeared to be knitting, together. Nozomi quietly read a book. Maki and Umi had a small board of checkers, which made a rhythmatic tapping when they would move their pieces.

"Hey, if you wanna talk to Umi, you might as well do it now." Eli whispered.

"Yes?" Umi heard the soft murmur from a fair distance away, catching the attention of Maki, her opponent.

"Can you move over here?" Nico motioned for the two girls.

They gathered their pieces up, carrying the book sized board with them.

Maki set the board down, arranging the pieces with some visual difficulty on her face.

"You wanted to ask me something?" Umi looked between me, Nico, and Eli.

"Ah, you go jogging sometimes, don't you?" I asked shyly, feeling a little warm in the face.

She nodded. "Every afternoon, after I get home, and on weekends."

"You do it in the afternoons? When?"

"From around 4:30 to 5:30, before I do homework. If we hang out after school, I usually save it for weekends."

Eli placed her hand on my arm. "What's he's trying to ask, is if you can tell him good places to run."

Umi looked intrigued. "Oh, you like running, too?"

"It's my personal favorite form of exercise, I think." I straightened my back up, feeling more confident in the conversation.

"Well, I think the thing he wanted to ask was-" Eli started

"Was that I wanna know if you any trails you usually go on." I finished, feeling a little rude after the fact.

"Oh, we all jog next to Nozomi's shrine." Maki said, entering the conversation.

"Oh yeah I guess that's right." Eli shrunk.

"Eli will show you where it is, won't you?" Umi said with a smile.

"Mmhmm. Maybe you'll see someone depending on the time of day." Eli smiled to me.

"There's a really large staircase seperating it from the road, too. Other than that we just do laps around the building." Maki twirled her hair on her finger.

"5 laps or so equal a mile, if I'm not mistaken." Umi added.

"I think it's 6." Nico said with a mouthful of food.

"Manners, Nico." Maki teased.

Nico responded a garbled sentence in a negative tone.

"So yeah-" Eli tugged my shirt sleeve "I'll show you where it is. It's a long way from where you and I live so you might have to take a train." She ended her sentence in a confused tone.

"Or you could walk there, but then again we don't know how far it is." Umi shifted her legs to rest comfortably.

"Well what's your address?" Maki asked, holding her phone.

Eli stammered "Hey now!"

I chuckled in response and opened my mouth to speak, but Eli covered my mouth. Taking the moment by stride I could smell her hand, it hinted of lotion.

"Just put mine in." Eli demanded.

Maki wore a goofy smile and did as told.

"Seems it's around 5 miles." Maki frowned.

"Just getting there would be all I'd need." I grumbled.

"Well that would work too, ya know." Umi couldn't get comfortable properly, and again moved her legs around.

"Well if you're gonna do that, I could go with you, couldn't I?" Eli sweetly asked.

"If you can keep up." I teased.

Nico's silence was broken by a laugh through her stuffed mouth, which almost made her choke.

"Manners." Maki repeated to Nico, in air quotations this time.

"H-Hey now I can keep up with you." Eli pouted, feeling a hit to her pride was done.

"No you can't, you never could when we were kids." I prodded her cheek, which she responded with an angry growl. Hopefully it wasn't serious.

"You meanie." She folded her arms, looking away from me.

"Now, now, you two." Umi said in a soft tone. "There's only one way to decide this, then." She continued.

"No, no more physical shenaniga-"

"Physical shenanigans!?" Rin hollered as her and Honoka entered the door. Maki stifled the rest of her sentence, having been interrupted.

"A-Ah, sorry." Eli whispered to me.

"It's fine." I replied.

"No, nothing! We aren't planning anything." Umi waved the two off.

Honoka pouted and trotted over to Kotori and Hanayo, still quietly keeping to themselves.

"So yeah, I'd like to see you try to keep up with me, Eli." I continued to tease her, waiting for her to do something rash.

"Hey, quit it. You're being mean." She blushed, hitting my arm.

"But really though, if you do wanna walk or jog with me, that's fine. We can't do it at night."

"You're really scared of me being out at night, aren't you?" Eli looked puzzled.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I also was puzzled.

Eli blushed. "S-Stop it, you're being too sweet."

"You do know other people exist right now, right?" Maki jutted in our conversation.

"Sorry about that." I whined.

"It's fine, we should go get out lunch, anyway." Umi said, standing up.

Maki took a second gathering her thoughts and followed Umi to the large blanket laid down on the rooftop, where the other girls were.

"What about you, Nico?" I turned to the girl, looking content with an empty box sitting in front of her.

"Oh, do you want me to go?" She cocked her head.

"No, it's fine. I didn't know if you wanted to be with the other girls or not.

"Maki and Umi are gonna come back, anyway. No biggie." She shrugged.

"Have you eaten yet, Eli?" I turned to her.

"Oh, no, actually." She looked around her person to where she set her small box of food.

"I haven't either." I said as my stomach growled.

"Hey now, eat something." Eli whined a little.

Umi and Maki returned and our small group ate in relative comfortable silence for the rest of lunch.

"So weren't you supposed to be busy this afternoon?" Maki asked, walking down the hall to the clubroom.

"I wanted to um. Double check with everyone about what's gonna happen today."

"Huh? Are you getting nervous about it?" Maki rose her eyebrow.

"Well, no that's not really the reason why, I just..." Eli trailed off.

"What do you have to be afraid of?"

"What if I mess up or something."

Maki chuckled to herself. "Mess up what, exactly?" Maki opened the door to the clubroom as they approached it, letting Eli in first.

"Hey, what are you doing here." Nico said, before Eli could fully enter the room.

"I came to... To um..." Eli grew warm and fidgeted with her hands.

"Don't tell me you just left him out there." Umi sighed.

"No, I didn't!" Eli waved her hands in front of her, looking around the room to the other girls.

"I can see him at the front of the school, right now." Rin said, forcing a hole through the blinds with her fingers.

Honoka peered through the blinds as well, stamping her foot. "Eli! You gotta go!" She said, charging up and forcibly pushing her out the room.

Eli gripped the sides of the door way, whining in vain. "Wait I have a question, though!"

Honoka stopped, perching her chin on Eli's shoulder. "Hmm?"

Eli lost her train of thought and made a small croak.

"Eli don't be nervous about it." Kotori encouraged her from the far back of the room.

"He's coming into the school now." Rin whispered.

Eli spun around on her heel, forcing Honoka to take a step back. "He's what?"

"He's coming in, looking for you." Nico said, hands on her hips.

Eli nervously curled her ponytail on her finger.

"Eli, it'll be fine." Nozomi said, placing her hand on Eli's shoulder.

"But him and I are gonna be alone and stuff." Eli muttered.

"You two did that like. Wha- a couple of days ago, right?" Maki said, folding her arms.

"Well yeah but this time it's different!"

"Not really, Eli, you're getting worked up over nothing." Umi went to stand up.

"Well it is something, isn't it?" Kotori placed her hand on Umi's shoulder, bringing her back down.

"Yeah, Kotori does have a point." Hanayo quietly said.

Rin jogged across the room peering out the door, before waving heavily. "She's over here~!" She called out to someone down the hall.

A familiar male voice made Eli's heart drop. "Rin what are you doing!" Eli said in a forceful whisper, pulling the small girl back inside in an attempt to close the door.

I gripped the door before it could forcibly close.

"Hey, is something wrong with-" I opened the door back open, flinging a blonde girl holding the door handle towards me.

Eli lightly hit my chest and took a step back. The sudden physical contact with her was brief but enough to make my brain stutter for a few seconds.

"E-Edward." Eli started, breaking the pause.

"Is something wrong? I was waiting for you in front of the sch-"

"Nothing's wrong!" Eli blurted, her face turning pink.

I took a deep breath and gave her head a small shake. "Come on, alright?"

"Gimme a minute." Eli said through a breath, her shoulders sulking.

"Are you feeling alright." I said, beginning to worry if she wasn't feeling up to it.

"No, she's fine." Kotori said, making Umi chuckle to herself.

"I think you two will make it to the shrine before I do, so I don't think we'll be seeing each other afterwards." Nozomi took a seat at the table.

Eli picked her bag up and turned on her heel.

"Are you going now?" Nico huffed.

"You make it sound like we want her to leave." Maki added, a grin creased her face.

"Oh no, we wouldn't want anything like that." Nozomi continued.

"Hey, quit it you three." Eli whimpered.

"Don't worry, Eli, it'll be fine." I sighed.

"Yeah, he'll be there the whole time." Honoka said with a giddy smile.

"Yeah like what if you get robbed or something." Rin said, punching the air.

"We're not gonna get robbed!" Eli stamped her foot, hurrying out the room, brushing past me.

"Hey." Nico said, as Eli was a distance away from the clubroom. The other 7 girls turned to me in tandem with a rainbow of expressions.

"What." I responded, standing up straight.

"Take care of her." Nico said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Eli means a lot to us, you know." Kotori added.

"She means a lot to me, too." I took a deep breath and shut the door to the clubroom.


	3. Chapter 3

"So what now." Maki said, slumping back in her chair with a sigh.

Rin went back to the window, peeling open a slit of blinds to peer outside.

"Have they left yet?" Nico said, turning her head behind her to Rin.

"Nnmm, not yet." She said with a frown.

"Are you planning on doing something, Nico?" Umi said with a stern face.

"Are you saying you want to follow them?" Nozomi said, folding her arms.

Everyone but Nico looked shocked at the proposal.

"Hey now, we can't do anything like that, you know." Maki spoke up.

"That's rude!" Umi added.

"Well wouldn't it be fun?" Honoka said, kicking her feet in her chair.

"Honoka." Kotori whined, giving a look of worry at her.

"Well it's just to see how it goes." Nico huffed.

"She'll tell us afterwards, though." Umi relaxed a little.

"And what if we get caught?" Hanayo meekly stated.

"Well Nozomi and Honoka have an alibi for i-" Nico started, before getting tapped on the shoulder by Rin.

"There they go!" Rin said, pointing down by the entrance of the school, pulling the blind up.

The other girls crowded around her and watched the two slowly make their way past the entrance.

"Where to first?" I said, taking smaller steps to keep a slow pace.

"The shrine, maybe? It's really nice." Eli said, her cheeks a soft pink.

"And then after that we're going to... Ah." I lost my train of thought before Eli tugged on my shirt's side.

"Honoka's bakery. It's also her house, too, so she might be home by the time we get there."

"Huh? Why's it also her house?"

"Well the shop is only the front-most part of the house, and the rest is where they actually live. I think all their bedrooms are upstairs." She tapped her lip in thought.

Finally making it to the sidewalk, I stopped on the curb, letting Eli take the lead.

"Shoot. OK, we gotta make a plan fast." Nico snapped her fingers.

"You aren't serious about this, are you?" Umi said, sounding worried.

"Relax Umi, it'll be fine." Honoka reached across Kotori to prod Umi's cheek.

"Well I assume not everyone is going to partake in this, right?" She muttered.

"I'm out." Maki crossed her arms in front of her.

"I don't wanna go, either." Hanayo shrunk in her chair.

"I have homework." Kotori said, with a nervous laughter.

"Jeez I thought you all would wanna see what would happen." Nico frowned.

"Well, we do, but it's rather private, don't you think?" Maki said.

Nico looked down, in thought.

"Yeah, Maki does have a point." Nozomi sighed.

"Well it'll be like we're cheering her on, right?" Honoka clapped.

"Yeah!" Rin made a loud response in return.

"Hey, don't twist words around to m-" Umi started.

"To make things sound better than what they should." Maki finsihed her sentence for her. "You've gotta be kidding."

"Nope." Nico looked triumphant.

"Well who's all gonna go?" Nozomi shifted in her chair a little, feeling excited.

"You two can go home with me, can't you?" Honoka said, trying to hug Kotori and Umi at the same time across two chairs.

"Wha- why are we getting dragged into this!" Umi protested.

"Well I guess it couldn't hurt." Kotori conceited shyly.

"Rin, I assume you're on board?" Nico turned to her, with a a fast head nod as a response from her. "Hanayo?" She asked politely, with an equally polite "No."

"I should be on my way already." Nozomi said, getting up. "What about you, Maki?" She said while pushing her chair in.

"Nope." Maki thumbed her nose.

"You'll be left out, you know." Nico teased.

"I'm with Maki on this one, still." Hanayo said softly.

"Do you wanna go home together, then?" Maki said, a softer face was shown towards the other first year, with Hanayo giving a nod.

"And what if you run into them?" Nico said with a grin.

"At least we have an alibi of not wanting to partake in this."

"Shouldn't we have left by now?" Honoka said, looking anxious.

"Good point." Nico said, picking her bag up.

Eli's heels softly clicked on the sidewalk as her and I quietly walked down the street. It felt comfortable for me but she seemed rather nervous.

"Hey." She said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" I responded, looking down at her over my shoulder.

"What do you think of the others?" She said, clutching her bag.

"Why do you keep asking that?" I said, putting my hands in my pockets.

"Well they're my friends and all and it just... Worries me, I think."

I brushed her back with my elbow, making her jump a little. "Oh quit it, Eli, they're all pretty cool people if I do say so myself. Even Nico, which everyone seems to discern."

"She's just feisty. I'm surprised Maki puts up with her so well."

I looked up at the sky, which was clear and blue, and I watched a small plane slowly pass overhead. "Yeah, you all fit together awfully well. I kinda feel bad ab-"

"Don't!" She blurted out before covering her mouth.

"Well at least you and I get to spend some time alone again, right?" I felt a little warm in the face after what I said, and it seems she did, too.

Again we walked in silence for about a block before she spoke up again.

"If you see one of them, don't be too surprised." Eli muttered.

"Why?" Feeling a little on edge after what she said.

"It seems like something they'd do." She chuckled to herself.

"It's because they care about you." I said with an uncontrollable smile.

"Well yeah, I know they care about me and all, but sometimes they do silly stuff like that." She looked down with a stifled grin. "Like sometimes Honoka will bring us food from her bakery and her mom will yell at her on the phone for stealing inventory." She giggled cutely.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if they cared about me a little, too. It seems like how they are." I took a small step closer to her as the conversation got deeper.

"They've all seemed to take a liking to you, and I'm really proud of them that they'd do that." She looked up at me with a precious smile that made my brain reset for a second.

"Right." I croaked out, breaking eye contact with her.

"Something wrong?" She leaned forward, trying to make visual contact again.

"Nah, I'm fine. It's just been a while since I've seen you so I get emotional a little." I swallowed.

"I know what you mean. I'm happy to be able to spend time with you like this agai-"

I cut her off, worried I'd do something stupid if she continued. "When's out first stop gonna happen."

"Shoot!" Eli stamped her foot on the pavement.

"What?" I stopped in my tracks and looked at her with a serious expression.

"I forgot we were going somewhere and didn't even see where we were going." She whined, pulling out her phone.

"Why are they all the way out here?" Nico muttered to herself, texting the others.

"Won't it give Nozomi time to get to the shrine before them, now?" Rin whispered, adjusting her position behind the tree they stood behind.

"Yeah, you're right. This could work out fine." Nico said half minded, still sending messages on her phone.

"There they go." Rin tapped Nico on the shoulder, pointing to Edward being dragged along by Eli as they ran down the street.

Nico sucked her teeth and ran along the side of the road her and Rin were on to catch up.

"They're 10 minutes away from the shrine right now if they walk, so if they're running I don't think Nozomi will be there in time." Nico quickly said, still running.

"I'll call Nozom-" Rin was cutoff by her phone vibrating.

"What's wrong?" Nico said, looking back.

"Hello, nya?" Rin answered her phone, stopping.

"Don't stop!" Nico whined.

Rin rose a finger up as she listened to what the person was saying.

"Who is it?" Nico tapped her foot in anxiety.

Rin pressed her phone, putting it back in her bag.

"So?" Nico demanded.

"Nozomi made it to the shrine already." Rin said with an excited smile.

Nico started running again, followed closely by Rin.

"Hey, slow down!" I whined, still being pulled by Eli.

She slowed her pace to a slow walk. "Shoot." She said to herself.

"It's no big deal Eli." I steadied my breath.

"I know, but heck." She said cutely.

I threw my head back in a hearty laugh which seemed to caught her off guard.

"W-What?" She blushed.

"Heck? Really?" I stifled my laugh to a soft chuckle.

"Come on you dummy." She continued onward around a corner, which I followed suit afterwards.

"So how far away are we?" I jogged to catch up to her, and she seemed to walk with a little bit more purpose than before.

"I don't know, actually. We're on the right path." She sighed.

"Don't get us lost, now." I walked a comfortable pace besides her, looking down at her to enjoy her cute determination while she was more focused on getting us to where we were going.

"We aren't lost. This is where Hanayo's hou-" She was stopped mid-sentence as stopped in her tracks. "-se is..." She trailed off after her mental hiccup.

"What's wrong?" I stopped a little ahead of her, trying to see what she was looking at, meeting eyes with Maki and Hanayo.

"Huh. Small town, eh." I shrugged.

Hanayo waved a block away, across an intersection.

Eli waved in response.

"Maybe we were getting followed, then." I scoffed, beginning to walk towards them, with Eli shyly following afterwards.

"Fancy meeting you here." Maki said with a soft smile.

"Likewise. We got lo-" Eli covered my mouth.

"We went on a little detour getting to the shrine." Eli said with a nervous laugh.

"We saw her on her way there, I think." Hanayo said, looking to Maki.

"Yeah, she might be there by now." Maki looked in thought.

"Alright, we'll be going then." Eli said, dragging me around and past the pair.

"I can't believe they got lost." I heard Maki say as we got a fair distance behind them. Hanayo chuckled afterwards.

Walking past the intersection we initially saw the two girls at, Eli again led the way slightly, hopefully knowing where to go. She bit her lip inside her mouth and looked at street signs intently as we passed them.

"So do you think we are being followed?" I asked, taking a larger step to catch up to her, walking by her side now.

"By who?" She said, sounding a little nervous.

"Your friends." I fixed my hair a little before looking to her.

"Ah... I hate to say it but probably." She sighed, half frowning.

"Eh, that's no big deal." I took a deep breath, inhaling the warm spring air, hoping me being calm would calm her down a bit.

"We're almost there, finally. It's a couple of blocks down." She pointed, but the view of what I was supposed to see was blocked by buildings, or maybe I didn't know what I was looking for.

Eli took a stop at the top of the steps in front of the shrine, slightly huffing from the long staircase. I was a few steps down from her and had a straightforward view to her legs, not daring to raise my gaze above her thighs.

"Oh, I guess I made it before you two." I heard Nozomi say from some direction as I placed my foot on the top step.

"Yeah, I didn't make a turn or something somewhere and ended up at Hanayo's house." Eli said with a small frown.

Nozomi dawned her shrine maiden outfit, and holding a large broom in both if her hands. The stark white and red was a pleasing contrast and fit with the colors of the shrine's colors and the green scenery surrounding it.

"What she means to say is that we got lost." I entered the conversation, tapping Eli on the small of her back, making her jump a little.

Nozomi giggled with a covered mouth. "Well you two can look around if you want. It's alright 5 or so, so if you wanna make it to Honoka's house you should probably hurry."

"I think we'll be fine. We aren't too far from her house anyway." Eli said, putting a hand on her hip and smiling.

"Hey, can we go? I wanna look around this place while we have the chance." I took a step forward past her and Nozomi, making my way to the small garden in front of the main building.

Eli trotted up to the side of me, giving a large huff and steadying her breathing.

"So you all come here all the time?" I put my hands in my pockets, looking at the large green and red building.

"Yeah-" she said softly, her heels clicking on the stone tiled floor surrounding the inside of the shrine. "I think it's a really cool place. We use the stairs for exercise and then come in her and pray." A small smile seemed uncontrollably made on her lips.

"You all are rather close, aren't you?" I shook my hips, hitting hers in a teasing manner.

"Yeah. I don't think I can thank them all enough for how good they all are to me." She said, holding her hands together, sporting a smile.

"You're really lucky, you know. Most people don't have things like this."

She nodded in response. "I worry I take them for granted sometimes."

"You hang out with them all the time so I don't think you have to worry about anything like that." I walked through the entrance of the shrine, a small pond was in front of one of the buildings and I gravitated towards it. Eli followed suit, making a comment how pretty the small body of water always looked.

I crouched down at the edge, seeing the bright white and orange Koi fish swimming around in the deep green water.

"Aren't they pretty?" Eli said softly, crouching down next to me.

I made a sound of acknowledgement, watching one eating a bug off the surface of the water. "Should we wrap up here and head to your friend's house next?" I stood up, bending my knees a little to get my posture back.

"Oh, yeah. It's getting late." Eli said, pulling her phone out and checking the time. "It's already 6." She frowned.

"I wonder if they'll make it to Honoka's house before dark." Rin said, softly chewing a chip from the plastic bag she held.

"I don't imagine them staying here for more than an hour. He seems to be worried about her staying outside after dark." Nozomi swept a small pile of dust into the open, letting the wind blow it off.

"I wonder why." Nico said, folding her arms.

Again I walked alongside Eli on a sidewalk today. The late evening making the streetlights begin to turn on. She walked noticeably closer to me, and the outcome I didn't want seemingly being about to happen.

"How much further is it?" I said, breaking the pleasant silence.

"Oh, not much farther. It's just around the corner."

"And this is where Honoka lives?" I yawned, wiping a tear out of my eye with the sleeve of my jacket.

"Yeah, like I said, they all live upstairs."

We turned the corner of the route we were taking and seeing a rather older looking building when compared to the modern businesses that surrounded it.

Eli pointed. "There."

"Huh. Wonder if she's there or no-"

A window on the top floor flung open, and the orange haired girl peeked out. "Hello!" She said, waving with both of her hands.

Eli waved back, letting out a small giggle.

Someone seemed to pull Honoka back into the house but she fought back by gripping the edges of the windowpane, submitting after a few seconds.

"Seems someone else is there?" I said.

"It could be her sister."

"Think it could be one of your group or something?" I tucked my hands in my jacket, feeling the nighttime air slowly setting in.

"If it is, it might be Kotori or Umi, or both."

"Are they all good friends?" I asked as we stopped in front of the intersection in front of their house. I looked both ways before taking a step forward onto the road. Eli forcibly yanked me back onto the sidewalk by grabbing the neck of my jacket.

"Don't do that!" She scolded. "You gotta hit the button!" She pointed.

"What?" I coughed, trying to catch my breath.

"Look." She walked past me, and hit a large red button on what appeared to me a sign. "This signals to drivers that we're trying to cross the road."

Honestly confused at this I question how we haven't had to use one beforehand. "Why wasn't this discussed before?" I took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry if I did that to hard." Eli said, touching my neck with her hand. I looked down at her worried expression as her delicate fingers squeezed my throat, and preening the neck of my clothes.

I took a deep breath, wondering where this came all of a sudden.

She blushed and drew back. "I just didn't want you to get hurt."

I looked away from her to calm myself, looking at the large sign Eli hit a bit ago. "Hey, I think it changed again."

"Huh?" She spun on her heel. "We waited to long." She whined.

I opened the door for Eli, a small child jingled as I slid it open. She nodded in thanks and walked in.

A large parade descended down a set of stairs somewhere in the building.

"Evening, Eli." A woman who I assumed was Honoka's mother bowed to us with a smile. Eli nodded back in response and I followed suit.

"Eli!" Honoka said with explosive energy, flinging open the cloth draped on the side of the room, revealing more of the house for an instant.

"Evening, Honoka." She giggled.

In a more calm manner, Umi and Kotori poked their heads out with a wave.

"See, told you someone was here." I muttered.

Eli stuck her tongue out at me.

"We're all here for a study group." Umi said, walking towards Eli and I. Kotori also joined us.

"We came to visit before we go home." Eli said.

"So this is what, exactly." I asked, looking around the room.

"It's a bakery." Kotori said. "The front desk is a big glass case of sweet and stuff Honoka's mom make." Which she then pointed to.

"Would you like to try something?" Honoka's mom said.

"Oh my gosh, come on." Eli tugged my shirt and started towards the front counter.

"Can we have two of your cream filled chocolate doughnuts?" She said with fervor.

"Yep." Honoka's mom said as a passing thought and crouched down to unlock the glass case, pulling out two innocent looking chocolate doughnuts out of a larger box of chocolate doughnuts.

"Take this." Eli said with expectance.

I took the doughnut, neatly folded in a napkin, not expecting much from the confection. I bit into the soft pastry, the chocolate glazing crunching on the initial bite, followed by the soft dough. A cool creme oozed out underneath the dough and mixing together with everything else.

"And?" Eli egged me on.

"It just tastes like a doughnut." I said with a full mouth, mid chew.

Eli sighed and started to eat hers next.

Honoka's mother started talking as Eli and I ate the house gifts we received from her. "This is our little family bakery, and Honoka's father and I make everything. Honoka helps out sometimes but ends up eating most stuff she makes."

"But it's so good, mom." Her daughter replied.

"Honoka has a younger sister, too, but she's at a friend's house. You might not see the man of the house, either. He's in the back baking."

A loud thunk resonated from behind the wall in response to what she said.

"When you said Yukiho was at a friend's hous-" Eli talked, covering her mouth.

"No, someone else's." Honoka's mother shrugged.

"Are we gonna stay here for a little bit?" I looked to Eli, then a brief glance at the other girls in the room.

"You can if you want. We aren't doing anything right now." Umi said, turning to Kotori who shook her head.

"Is that fine with you?" Eli turned to me, done with her doughnut now.

"Isn't it getting late." I wiped my mouth, done with mine too, and crumpling the napkin in my hand.

"We'll be fine if we stay for a little while." Eli cocked her head.

"Come on, we can go in my room." Honoka said, pulling the drapery back and motioning us through.

Honoka opened the door to her room, again holding her hand open for us to enter. The room seemed, again for the second time I've been in a girl's room, rather normal. Except Honoka's plethora of books and manga was much larger than Eli's, and her room was a bit smaller. Kotori and Umi sat at the table in the center of the room, with 4 cushions.

"Come on, let's sit down." Eli said, tugging my shirt downward as she sat down.

I sat on one side of the table, Eli to my left, Kotori to me right, and Umi dead ahead. Honoka sat herself on her bed, resting her feet on Kotori's waist.

"So is this your last stop before you go home?" Umi asked, her soft voice hopefully setting the tone for the gathering.

Eli nodded.

"Did you see anyone along the way?" Kotori said, fidgeting in her notebook.

"Yeah, of course. Some of them were probably following us or something." Eli rested her arms on the table, and snuggled into the cushion.

"I told them not to." Umi sighed.

"Who'd you tell not to?" I asked, Eli also seemed interested.

"Wasn't it Rin and Nico who wanted to do something like that?" Kotori said, tapping her lip in thought.

"Maybe they didn't." Honoka said, lightly squeezing Kotori's waist with her legs.

"Do they always do things like that?" I continued my questioning.

Their reactions ranged between nods and laughs.

"Nico just worries, I think." Eli replied.

"Maybe she was just bored or something today and used it as an excuse to hang out with Rin." Honoka added.

"They don't mean anything bad by it, we promise. That's just how they do things instead of being patient." Umi rose her hand in forgiveness, which I nodded off.

"What about Nozomi?" Again, I asked another question.

"What do you mean?" Umi replied.

"Well she was..." I trailed off, seeing the flaw in my argument.

"She was gonna be there anyway to clean the shrine up, so she wasn't doing anything suspicious." Kotori said with a smile.

"See? Not everyone is silly." Honoka said, slightly rocking back and forth.

"That's rather hypocritical, Honoka." Eli made the sly remark, giggling to herself.

"Well I say things went pretty well, no?" Rin said, casually standing next to her partner. The two of them across the street from Honoka's house.

"I guess so." Nico said, her arms folded.

"He's not that bad of a guy, I'd say." Rin said, putting her arms behind her head and stretching with a yawn.

Nico looked to the other girl, making a half frown at the time of day.

"Maybe we should go home, then?" She lightly suggested.

Rin softly nodded. "I'm hungry, too." She whined, rubbing her stomach.

"You've been eating all day." Nico scoffed as they walked off.

"Bye!" Eli said, waving to the 3 girls leaning out the second floor window.

I waved too, choosing not to say anything. "Guess we head home now, right?" I said, tucking my hands in my pockets again.

Eli nodded with a sweet smile that was barely visible in the glow of a nearby streetlight.

"Which way, though?" I said, turning around to look at the intersection behind us.

"I know the way, even if it's dark." As I turned back to her, I saw her lightly preening her skirt.

"You won't be scared, right?"

"Wha-." She looked baffled. "Was this what you were worried about this whole time?" She whined.

"I'd rather certain you're still afraid of the dark, just the same as when you were a kid." I took a step closer to her and ruffled her hair a little.

"Hey, quit it." She protested, lightly thumping me on the chest. "I'll be fine." She said with a covered pout.

"Lead the way." I motioned for her to begin walking.

Her and I quietly walked along the sidewalk of the city, softly lit up. Nobody else was on the streets right now, and rarely a car would pass by, bathing the buildings in bright yellow. Every alleyway we walked by, Eli would look into nervously, and everytime veer closer to me until we passed it. Despite that, she'd still look back at them even after we were clear of it.

"Nothing's gonna jump out, you know." I said softly, the quiet air was too relaxing to fully split with a normal volume.

"I-I know." Eli said, with a wavering tone. Her arms tucked in front of her.

"Don't be scared, Eli. I'm right here."

She muttered something under her breath and took a hold of the bottom of my shirt.

"So I see you still have this phobia?"

"I thought we would be home by now." Her voice a whisper.

"We could've been home by now but you wanted to keep going." I thumbed my nose in a joking manner.

Eli shrunk a little. "S-Sorry."

"Hey, what are you apologizing for?" I said with a furrowed brow, concerned at her sudden shift.

"Isn't this still annoying? Like when we were kids you would always carry me around if we got lost in the woods at night." She looked up at me, her blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

"Yeah, so."

A passing streetlight showed the sudden red tint on Eli's face.

"It's fine, I promise. I don't get what you're afraid of this kinda stuff any-"

A stray cat shot out of an alleyway about 20 feet in front of us, severely startling Eli, evidence by the fact she pressed herself against my side rather tightly.

"It's just a cat." I said, looking down at her, now shaken and wide eyed.

She intently stared at the entrance of the alleyway as I continued walking.

"Sorry." She she again said, regaining her composure, and let go her grip on my arm.

"See, you freak yourself out too much." I continued what I was saying beforehand, looking over my shoulder to see if she was actually alright.

"It's scary." She whined. "There's stuff in the dark."

"Like what." I replied.

"Ya know." She trailed off.

"A lot of people are afraid of the dark, so it's rather normal, but that was just a little cat."

"It could've been something else." Eli elbowed my arm slightly.

"Like what?" I lightly elbowed her back, hitting her waist.

"Something scary." She shrunk back down.

"Oh come on. You can't really tell me you thought it'd be a ghost or something, did you?" I couldn't contain a laugh that echoed across the night time street.

"Look, Nozomi tells me all kinds of stories about these kinda things." Eli's heels clicked a bit harder on the pavement.

"Really now? What kinda stories?"

"Like urban legends and ghost stories and stuff. Like one about a woman who's face is all cut up and you aren't suppsoed to talk to her or she'll steal your soul or something." Eli's embarrassed tone was more than visible on her face.

"Oh, like that lady over there?" I said, pointing to an older woman sitting at a bus stop.

"No, the one I'm talking about is always wearing a mouth mask thing." Eli said, in a knowledgeable tone.

I was slightly puzzled as what she was talking about. "What?"

Eli waved it off. "It's nothing, nevermind."

"You can't go believing ghost stories, you know. Not like I've ever seen anything like that before."

Eli sighed. "I don't wanna take my chances."

"Nozomi's got you scared stiff, huh?" I stifled a laugh. "I bet she even tells you she can rid you of a possession, too."

"Hey!" Eli snapped, and stomped her foot on the pavement.

I turned to her with a confused expression, unable to react properly.

She looked at me with a stern look which slowly crumbled. "I-."

"Did I say something wrong?" I took a step closer to her, slightly reaching my hand out to her.

"No, it's just..." She looked down.

"What?" I egged her on under the light of lone streetlight, which slightly flickered.

"Sorry I'm still scared of this stuff. I feel like a little kid." She balled her hands into fists.

"It's no big deal, I swear." I took a step closer to her, and bent over to be more at eye level.

"But you keep picking on me." She looked slightly, a frown and furrowed brow was not something I felt I should see on her anymore.

"I'm just joking Eli." I said in a sorrowful tone.

"It's not fair how you grew up and I'm still scared of the dark." She folded her arms, a good sign of her feeling better.

"Everyone's afraid of something." I stood up straight again, turning to the side to show her I wanted to keep walking, which she read.

"Well are you still afraid of fires?" Eli giggled.

"Oh come on. They're dangerous." I scoffed.

"Even a little campfire?" She looked up at me, her smile showing I said the right thing.

"It can get out of control quickly." I broke eye contact with her teasing expression.

"Not if you know what you're doing." She said softly.

"And I have no interest in that."

"Are you still afraid of stoves, too?"

"Look, being burned is scary." I groaned.

Eli giggled to herself, a sound I wanted to hear.

"Well, I guess we're here now." Eli said, a nervous laugh at her front doorstep, which was at the top of a small set of stairs.

"Yeah. I'll see you at school tomorrow." I said, ready to turn on my heel and go home, taking a step down.

"Wait." Eli said, tugging my shirt.

"What?" I replied. "I think your family already knows you're here." I said with a smile.

"Today was fun." She muttered.

"We didn't even really do much to anything, though." My sentence was watered down by Arisa opening the door.

"Give me a bit Arisa." Eli turned, forcing the door close.

"Today was fun." Eli repeated herself.

I took a step back up the staircase, the same tier as her's. "And like I said, we didn't really do a whole lot."

"But we got to be together again. It was really nice to... See you be yourself again." Eli gulped.

"You too. Maybe we can do something this weekend, to-"

Eli gripped the collar of my uniform, pulling me down to head level with her, and hugged me tightly around my shoulders. "I-I missed you so much." She whimpered.

My mental gears grinded at what was happening, but I regained control and reciprocated the hug, holding her waist.

"Don't leave me again." Her voice cracked as her wavering voice turned to a soft sob.

"Heh now, quit it." I swallowed and took a deep breath.

She nestled her head into my neck, and I could feel the wet tears forming.

"Eli." I muttered.

She replied with a sniffle, tightening her hug.

Her and I stood like this for a minute or so. I could see Arisa peek her head through a window on the side of the house, confused at first but easily getting the message, and closed it.

Eli stopped her soft crying and drew back, wiping her eyes.

"Look, you messed your makeup up." I reached out and held her face, wiping the small black streak from under her eye.

She softly griped my hand with hers, leaning her head on it, closing her eyes and biting her lip. "I'm sorry I got mad." She said through another sniffle.

"Is that was this is about?" I sighed.

She opened her eyes, which softly sparkled from her tears. "I just had a thought about you leaving again."

"I don't think I'm going anywhere." I softly rubbed her face, which she enjoyed, coughing as she tried to laugh.

"I don't remember you being this emotional." I said, taking another step closer to her, a small couple of inches now seperating us.

"You made me this way, dummy." She dropped my hand, and folded her arms in front of her.

I lightly patted her head and leaned forward. "You gonna be OK to go to bed?"

She nodded and her and I held eye contact for a second. I drew my head back as I felt my face heat up.

"I'll be fine." She said with a sigh.

"I'm gonna go home, OK? See you at school tomorrow." I started down the stairs and the short path to the gate of her house.

A hefty weight pushed on my back, and I turned around to expect Eli to want another hug.

Eli gripped my face as I turned and pressed her lips against my cheek. The warm pressure made my world stop and I felt like tipping over.

She drew back. "Goodnight." She said through closed eyes and ran into her house.

"Goodnight." I weakly muttered back, in a daze.


End file.
